DNA
by Umachica
Summary: Something strange is happening to the Pokemon on Bo's pontya ranch. Things are changing quickly, and it's up to her to figure it out before she loses the entire farm. But the problem is much larger than she thinks.
1. Chapter 1

"I'm not a trainer," Bo said patiently for the third time. She leaned against a post along the fence to her pastures and looked the visitor she had been talking to in the eye "I'm a breeder. I have no interest in fighting you, or trading with you. You want one of our ponyta, you have to be able to pay."

The visitor, a young pre-teen boy, groaned impatiently. "but my feet are so tired from traveling and your ponyta are supposed to be really good for riding, aren't they?" He made a pleading gesture, "Please? I'll even trade you two pokemon! I have a zubat and a bidoof..."

Bo held the bridge of her nose between her fingers, "Look, kid, I know you're just starting out, but I'm afraid I can't be of any help to you even if I did accept trades. There's just no room for those pokemon here on the farm. If you head down the road and into the city, there might be someone that can help you out there. Set you up with a bike or roller skates or something." She shrugged and tipped her flared cowboy hat back a touch, smiling in a good natured way "I wish you the best, really. It's a tough road out there."

The kid looked like he might cry, his bottom lip jutting out and his brow furrowing for a moment as he shoved his hands into his pockets. Shoulders sullenly pulled up, he turned and gave a huge sigh. Then he relaxed, gave a reluctant half smile, and nodded "Thanks anyway. Hope your business goes well." With that, he started off down the dirt road leading towards the city proper.

"Come on back when you get the cash!" Bo said after him, "I'll have a prize steed waiting for you!"

The kid seemed to cheer up a little and waved back before breaking into a jog. Bo smiled. 'Kids', she thought, turning back to her work checking the fence for damage. She remembered wanting to be a trainer at that age. All full of adventurous fire and dreams. She was 24 now. A little late, she thought, to be heading out into the big world. She'd missed her chance already, and now she was engrossed in the family business of raising ponyta and rapidash. It wasn't something she regretted, but she often thought about what it might have been like to be a trainer.

Even with her own ponyta, Kindle, to help her carry supplies, her work took most of the day. A storm had blown in recently and had done more damage to the fences than the usual wear and tear. By the time she was done, the sun was setting, and as she made her way back to the barn, she discovered she had some company.

A herd of ponyta, watching her with wide, hungry eyes. Some stretching their necks forward to sniff at her pockets. She laughed and wiped her brow with the back of her arm "I know, I know. Gimme a minute and you'll get your grub."

She hurried about filling the feed buckets with pellets, a bit of coal, and hay before opening the doors to the stalls and letting her charges in. They didn't need to be led during supper time. They marched in obediently, if perhaps a bit eagerly, and began to chow down. She counted heads.

"Flint, Mars, Adan, Kindle, Brigid, Spark..." She ticked off their names in her head as she went until she got to the last one, "And Ember... hmm. I'm missing one. Hey, you guys know where Blaise is?" Expectedly, the ponyta remained silent on the subject as they ate. Bo sighed. "Alright then. Out I go."

She strode off back out into the field, leaving Kindle behind to eat. Unfortunately for her search efforts, the setting sun was bright enough to make the usual glow of a ponyta's mane and tail harder to see in the field. She had to squint often and peer through the firey light carefully, but it still wasn't until the sun had gone down further that she spotted the stray foal.

Her mood set much faster than the sun.

It was that kid again! Only this time he was inside the fence, blocking off the ponyta using his other pokemon. It didn't look like a fight, but it could easily become one. Especially if Bo had anything to say about it.

"You!" she shouted accusingly, "What are you doing here?!"

He looked up at her in shock as she approached, clearly stunned at being caught red handed. "I was.. I just thought... I thought if I convinced it to be my friend-"

"That I would just let you leave with it in the spirit of friendship or something?!" She stopped outside the ring of pokemon, some of whom growled at her, some of whom whimpered and looked back at their trainer, unsure of what to do.

The boy trembled, "Well... I.. er... this one is sick anyway so..."

Bo growled, "The answer is no. If Blaise is sick, I'll take care of it. Just like I'll take care of you if you don't get off my property and leave my ponyta alone!"

He seemed to find a bit of courage in the face of the threat. He stood up straight and tall, declaring "You can't just say that to me!"

"If you don't leave, I'm calling the police. How's that for things I can't say?"

The boy gulped, licked his lips, then looked around. "Whatever. I don't want your stupid sick ponyta anyway. Come on guys!" He recalled his pokemon and ran off, hopping the fence she'd just repaired earlier that day. She watched him this time, keeping an eye on him until he disappeared over the horizon.

"Punk." She grumbled, before turning to take a look at Blaise, "Let's see how you're doing, Blaisey. You don't look sick... little gremlin was probably just looking for an excuse to... hold on. What's this?" What she thought was a leaf that had landed on Blaise's flank didn't seem to be brushing off. She frowned a little. Usually leaves and the like just burned off quickly. She pulled at it to remove it, only discover that it seemed firmly implanted into Blaise's hide. When she tugged harder, Blaise twitched his muscles and he whickered a little in protest. When she tugged harder still, he tossed his head back toward her as if to say 'ouch!'.

"That's really stuck in there, huh?" Bo said, looking quizzically at the pokemon, "well, come on anyway, we'll sort it out in the daytime."

After leading Blaise back into the stables and making sure he got his dinner, Bo went inside the main house. Her mother was there, just setting dinner out on the table with the help of her sister. Her father was absent, but that was normal. Her father was a trainer, still chasing his dream. It was the reason Bo felt she'd missed her own chance to train. With her father gone, she'd stepped up to care for the farm.

Over dinner, Bo discussed the days happenings. She turned to her sister first. "Hey Jun, in the morning can you give Blaise a good brushing? He's gotten some brush stuck in his fur pretty good."

"No problem," said her younger sister, Juniper, "how'd things go with that kid that dropped by?"

Bo scoffed a bit, "not good. Little brat left, then tried to sneak into the fields and take Blaise."

Her mother's jaw fell slack and she spoke in quiet outrage "He tried to steal one of the ponyta?"

At Bo's nod, her mother frowned, "We probably ought to start looking into more security measures then. Between kids like that and the Team Rocket rumors, we'll be looking at losing stock if we don't."

"Mom, we have Bruno." Juniper said. The whole family looked over at the aging arcanine in the corner, gnawing on a bone. Bo's mom sighed "I'm afraid Bruno is getting a bit old for guard duty, honey. If we could afford a younger brother or sister for him, that would be great, but..."

"That reminds me," Bo said around a mouthful of potatoes "Did we get the money back from the Durgens?"

Her mom gave her a gently scolding look "They didn't owe us money. They owed us a favor. Which they repaid with the potatoes you're eating now."

"Would rather it have been money," Bo grumbled, "Or feed."

Juniper shook her head, "no one has much lately," she said, "it's been a hard season."

There was silence in response. It had indeed been a hard season. The frequent storms were making it hard to work the fields, and thus keep the crops thriving like they should. And, despite the occasional overeager trainer, there weren't as many people eager to take a ponyta out into stormy weather where the fire might go out, or the ponyta itself panic. There just wasn't much business lately.

Bo finished her meal with bits of small talk here and there. When she finished, she helped her family do the dishes, then went upstairs to bed, thinking about tight finances and ponyta-thieves.

A shriek jerked her awake. It was Juniper's job to do the morning chores. What had happened? Bo was up and running in her night shirt and pjs before she was even really awake. Her mother met her on the way out and both of them hurried to the barn where the shout had come from.

Juniper stood there, a bucket of feed spilled around her feet, staring into the barn with eyes wide and jaw slack.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

The sound echoed in the barn, sickly accented by hoarse coughing and whickering. Blaise was backing into a wall, tossing his head silently, eyes wide open. From his shoulders sprouted two huge green vines which were stretched forward...

and were wrapped around another ponyta's neck, hoisting it upwards. Choking it. The other ponyta were cowering in their stalls, backed into corners.

For a moment, no one could move. No one spoke. The sight didn't make sense!

Bo's mother recovered first, and she ran up to Blaise, tugging at the vines, only to back off a second later "His flame's hot, I can't get close!"

Her voice brought her daughters to action. Juniper ran to the tack room, while Bo ran to the choking ponyta and pulled at the vines there, trying to save the poor thing. Juniper was out a second later in a fire suit, running over to help her mom. She tried to calm Blaise, hoping that would stop the monster vines, but he seemed inconsolable, the fire from his mane glowing brighter by the minute as he panicked. Bo finally worked an arm under one of the vines, but the strength of them overwhelmed her, and she ended up trapped next to the dying ponyta. They shared a look. Its time was almost up.

Desperate, Bo used her free hand to reach for her pocket knife. She fumbled awkwardly with it, trying to get the blade open one handedly. Normally she would never use it on a pokemon but she had no other choice. She slashed at the vines, hoping the pain would make Blaise release his hold.

It wasn't until she had fully slashed through both vines that they retreated, leaving shortened, flailing stumps sprouting from Blaise's shoulders.

Juniper and her mom took over calming Blaise down as Bo checked on the freed ponyta, who was coughing and sputter as it stood in it's stall, it's legs splayed out and it's head down. Everyone was breathing heavily. But the danger was, for the moment, over.


	2. Chapter 2

"No, no, you don't understand... it's not from a battle, it's, well... you'd have to see it for yourself."

Bo's mother was on the phone with the pokemon center immediately after breakfast, arranging a barn visit to examine Blaise. To her frustration, the center naturally wanted to know what the symptoms were, and were having trouble believing what they were hearing. Bo was nearby, washing the dishes from breakfast. She made a soft snorting sound, not unlike the sound a ponyta might make, as she listened in to the conversation.

"I've never seen a seed attack do this," Bo's mother said insistently, "I'm telling you, he grew vines! ...I know that's not normal. Listen, could you just... send Nurse Joy up here as soon as possible? When? No...no that won't work."

Bo could tell where this conversation was going already. She let her mom continue talking as she dried her hands and went to fetch her boots. Then she went out to the stables.

Juniper was there already. She was adjusting the bandages they had hastily applied over Blaise's new vines to try and control them. Blaise pawed the ground and tossed his head restlessly. "Shhh, it's okay Blaise... we know it's not your fault," Juniper said over and over in comforting tones. She looked up as Bo strode in, watching her sister begin to saddle up Kindle.

"The pokemon center is too busy to see us right now," said Bo tersely, "So it looks like I'm going to have to go to them."

"You're not going by yourself are you?" asked Juniper

Bo nodded, "It shouldn't be a problem, really. As long as we keep those bandages on, it'll be like a daytrip out. I'll ride Kindle, carry Blaise by pokeball. Let them see what's going on here."

Juniper seemed to think it over before she nodded in return, "Okay then. But let me get you some supplies for the trip, okay? You always forget to eat when you go riding." With that she scampered back to the house.

Bo grinned a little, then reached for the rack of pokeballs that coresponded to each of the ponyta. Taking Blaise's in her hand she walked up to the skittish colt and pushed the button to recall him. The light shone, enveloped Blaise...

...then dissapeared.

Bo pursed her lips, cocked an eyebrow, and tried again. With the same results. Blaise whickered nervously. One more try. Nothing. Bo sighed, her tongue in her cheek as she considered the predicament. "Okay... let's try the catch you method." She threw the ball this time, expecting it to scoop the ponyta up into it like it always did. Instead, it bounced off the colt's flank and Blaise looked at her as if a little surprised at being hit. He bumped the open pokeball with his nose, snuffling at the inside of it. Then he looked at Bo blankly.

"What, don't look at me like that, it was always good enough for you before" she said exasperatedly.

Blank silence answered.

She sighed, "guess I'm leading you over there. Let's get your lead line."

She grabbed the length of rope used to lead ponyta and had Blaise hooked up and next to a wary looking Kindle by the time Juniper returned with a pack of sandwiches and a bedroll. "Just in case," said the younger sister. Bo tossled Juniper's hair before hoping up onto Kindle's back smoothly "Be back soon, Jun" She clucked her tongue and Kindle started forward at a clipped walk, Blaise following along at the end of his lead.

The sun slowly climbed into the sky as Bo rode on, clouds drifting lazily across the sky. Despite the seriousness of the situation, Bo couldn't help but feel a bit at peace while on the road. She loved riding. It gave her time to think in peace and quiet. She took off her hat and let the wind tug gently at her hair. "Blaise, how are you doing back there?" She looked back to Blaise, who neighed in response, then shook his mane. "We'll get there in no time," she said reassuringly, "You know Nurse Joy will know what to do."

They were still about an hour out of the city when Kindle began to slow down and drift a little to one side of the road. Despite Bo's attempts to correct her, Kindle soon came to a full stop, Blaise beside her, the both of them looking out over the grass on either side of the roads. They were nervous.

Bo's senses went on high alert, but she tried to nudge Kindle forward anyway. Kindle shuffled forward a step or two, then turned sideways, ears pricked forward, body tense. Blaise snorted and danced about fractiously. As both ponyta started acting up more, Bo dismounted, taking hold of Kindle's reins and trying to lead on foot "Lets go girl. Keep moving. Whatever it is, we'll get past it sooner if we keep moving."

Reluctantly, Kindle and Blaise began to step forward, ears swiveling back and forth as they listened to their surroundings. Bo lead them slowly, tension creeping into her back and neck. The day seemed bright and colorful still, but suddenly much less friendly. Much more quiet. The back of her neck tingled uncomfortably as she walked, as if expecting something, though she wasn't sure what.

Slowly, slowly, they walked, taking so much longer than Bo would have liked.

It was almost a relief when the first hiss sung through the air.

The ponyta reared suddenly as the serpent shaped thing lunged out of the grasses, a blue and gold bolt of blurred motion that snapped at anything close to it. Bo was nearly pulled off her feet as she kept a hold on the reins and tried to avoid the thrashing set of teeth at the same time. Before she could recover, a hard blast of liquid struck her full in the face. Immediately her eyes began to sting and burn, and she fell back with a cry. Poison! As she rubbed fiercely at her eyes, she heard Kindle neigh shrilly, hooves stomping, hissing, and a pokemon call she couldn't quite make out. More splashing, sounds of liquid. The sound of tearing cloth and another loud neigh. She backed up away from the sounds, still rubbing her eyes as the distinct sharp sound of a whip sung in the air.

All fell silent.

Finally, Bo found her vision returning, as she stared at the blurred shapes before her until they came into focus once more. There stood Kindle, tossing her head, her mane flickering low and her tail diminished. There was the serpent shape on the ground, lifeless and limp.

And there was Blaise, his bandages lying in shreds at either side of him, fully grown vines swaying from his shoulders, his flames... no... not flames.

Leaves.

Bo rubbed her eyes again, thinking the poison was still affecting her. But the sight stayed the same. In place of the fire that usually trailed down Blaise's back from ears to tail, a path of golden, russet, and orange leaves blossomed, waving on their own as if a small breeze played over them.

Blaise turned to face her, and Bo could see then that his eyes had turned a brilliant green, and were glowing. Fearing an attack like the one in the barn, Bo reached for her knife.  
Blaise stood still.  
Trembling, Bo circled around the leafy ponyta, unsure what to think. Blaise remained quiet as Bo made her way to Kindle, gathering the reins in her hand like a lifeline to reality. Then she approached the blue and gold shape.

An ekans?

She nudged it with her boot. It was the right shape, but the wrong color. She had heard of rare mutations of course, but they had been described as a greenish gold. Not this. Not a deep, pure blue. Bo nudged the strange thing with her boot, checking it for signs of life, then knelt down to take a closer look. She noticed a pool of water under the thing's jaw and carefully avoided it, fearing poison in it. It couldn't be... could it? Ekans wasn't a water type, as far as she remembered.

With careful hands she picked it up and stood slowly, as if in a dream. She turned.

And was face to face with Blaise.

A startled cry escaped her lips as she jumped back, but this time Blaise only stretched out his neck and nosed her pocket. What he usually did when he was looking for treats. He seemed proud of himself somehow. It was a moment or two before Bo finally caught her breath again, and she gave a sigh of relief to see Blaise didn't seem likely to attack her.

She moved around to Kindle, retrieving her pack and emptying out the sandwiches to place the ekans body in it instead. Taking a deep breath, she turned and took hold of Blaise's lead once more "Okay... I don't have more bandages so... er... no funny business with the vines. Got it?"

Blaise snorted.

Bo ran her free hand over her face "oh boy... let's... let's get going."

She mounted back up onto Kindle's back, gave the mare a reassuring stroke on the neck, then clucked her tongue again. They took off again, faster than before.

It wasn't long before Bo's nerves urged her and her ponyta into a run.

They reached the city in the afternoon, hooves clattering over cobblestone roads as they made their way straight to the pokemon center. Startled bystanders dove out of the way, pulling double takes at the strange sight before them. They skidded up to the pokemon center, where Bo dismounted and immediately returned Kindle to her pokeball.

The doors to the center fairly blew open as Bo rushed in, leading a prancing, pawing Blaise into the center of the room and up to the desk. The receptionist there gaped in an open mouth stare at the freakish sight before her eyes.

"What- Wh-...what?!" she stammered over and over.

"This," Bo said as she leaned over the desk, "Is what my mom was trying to tell you. Where's Nurse Joy?"

The receptionist continued to blubber fruitlessly as visitors and chanseys crowded into the room.

"I'm right here," called a stern but friendly voice from behind the crowd. They made way for her as she strode through, making her way directly to the ponyta's side. She checked his eyes, the vines, the leaves, all with an unreadable expression, then gestured for Bo to give her the lead. "This just became our most urgent patient," she said to the chanseys, who fidgeted about, a little unsure of their patient.

Before Bo could ask any questions, Nurse Joy led Blaise through the doors to the back of the center, leaving a crowd of questions and stunned expressions in her wake.

With nothing else to do, Bo took a seat and began the lonely wait for answers.


End file.
